WOMEN MAKING HISTORY 2026: Candace Phillips | Owner, CandyShoppe Hair Studio | CEO, CandeCollective | Platform Artist & Emcee
- The Chronicle News
- 11 minutes ago
- 3 min read
For Candace Phillips, beauty has never been just about hair and style. It has always been about confidence, culture, and helping people step into the best version of themselves.
A Lansing native, Candace began her journey in the beauty industry at a young age. By just 12 years old, she was already working in a salon as a shampoo assistant, sweeping floors and learning the foundation of the business. Under the mentorship of Lansing stylist Terri Nelson, she gained not only technical skills but also an early understanding of professionalism, integrity, and entrepreneurship.
Her academic path also reflected her ambition. Candace was on track to graduate high school early, but her parents encouraged her to enroll in a vocational cosmetology program instead. This decision proved pivotal. During her junior and senior years, she split her days between high school classes and beauty school. By the time she graduated in 1995, Candace already held her cosmetology license, giving her a head start in an industry that would become her lifelong career.
While building her career as a hairstylist, Candace continued her education and later earned a degree in Sociology and Anthropology, a perspective that continues to influence her approach to beauty, identity, and culture.
In 1999, Candace relocated from Lansing to Atlanta, Georgia, where she expanded her career in the thriving Metro Atlanta beauty industry. In 2004, just two months before the birth of her youngest child, she opened her first brick-and-mortar salon in Gwinnett County. Over the years, she has built a diverse clientele throughout the Atlanta area and now operates in Sandy Springs, Georgia.
Candace is also widely recognized within the professional beauty industry. Her work as a platform artist and emcee has taken her across the country, collaborating with major brands and trade shows including Bronner Bros., Paul Mitchell, Cosmoprof, and Procter & Gamble. She has participated in major industry events, photo shoots, and even Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, showcasing her expertise and creativity on national stages.
But beyond the stage and salon chair, Candace’s impact extends through mentorship. Throughout her career she has guided aspiring stylists and entrepreneurs, helping many launch their own salons and beauty businesses.
Her inspiration for the industry runs deep. Candace comes from generations of women who believed in presentation, self-care, and confidence. From her mother and grandmothers to aunts and cousins, beauty was part of family tradition. One of her early influences was her cousin Carmen, who encouraged Candace’s creativity while growing up and allowed her to practice hair and makeup during visits to California.
For Candace, beauty is deeply connected to culture and identity.
“Beauty isn’t just hair and makeup,” she says. “It’s history, identity, and how people present themselves in the world.”
Through her work, Candace hopes to empower women to pursue their dreams boldly.
“I want women to see that being a woman should not stop you from going after anything you want. Walk into the room. Sit at the table. Your gender, race, or background should never make you feel like you don’t belong there.”
As a mother of four, Candace also hopes to inspire single mothers to keep pushing forward.
“Life happens, but it doesn’t have to hold you back. Wherever you are right now, you can still build something amazing.”
Her advice to the next generation of women leaders is simple but powerful.
Start from the bottom. Learn everything you can. Find mentors. Trust your intuition. And never stop growing.
One of the mantras Candace lives by is a phrase she carries with her every day.
“Live like there’s no tomorrow.”
For Candace Phillips, that philosophy has guided a career defined by passion, perseverance, and a commitment to uplifting others along the way
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